About Us

IzelPlants.com is a marketplace for plants native to the contiguous US. We are not a nursery.

We combine the inventories of several nurseries that are dedicated to the responsible collection and propagation of native species. Most native plant nurseries only specialize in certain plant types. However, by shopping at IzelPlants.com, you can fulfill all your native plant needs on a single website. Whether you are looking for trees or ground covers, spring ephemerals or late summer bloomers, wetland species or drought tolerant species, IzelPlants.com has them all.

We offer many tools for you to filter our species list, and help find what species are best suited to your specific garden environment, and your specific ecoregion.

Purchasing Plants

Most of our current plant offerings are native to the Mid-Atlantic, but we are rapidly expanding to other regions! Once you’ve found your ideal species, you’ll have the option to select which nursery you want to fulfill your order, but before we show you plant pricing and availability, we’ll ask you to input the destination zip code for your order.

Here’s why:

- First, some states have quarantine restrictions, and we don’t want to offer you a plant from a nursery that can’t ship to you.

- Second, we will sort the nurseries that offer the plants you are interested in, by proximity to your location. By choosing the nursery closest to you, you’ll be more likely to purchase a plant with a genotype best adapted to your area. Of course, you are welcome to purchase your plants from any of our nurseries.

You may add plants from multiple nurseries to your shopping cart. IzelPlants.com offers a convenient single checkout, regardless of how many nurseries you choose to fulfill your order.

Our Species information:

Our goal is to be a resource for detailed plant information, including species characteristics, descriptions, cultivation guidelines, county level maps of recorded native range, and more. We are constantly adding new species to our database. Check in with us regularly. Our focus is on quality and accuracy, not quantity.

Because nomenclature and classification may vary from one source to another, we use the USDA Plants Database as our standard.

All the species information on our website is gathered following a rigorous process of cross referencing to ensure its accuracy. However, it should not be considered academic research. Errors or omissions may occur. We welcome any contributions or corrections that are backed with reference material. Please send them here. Thanks!

Why Native?

If you are reading this you must already have a good idea of the answer as well as a sense of environmental responsibility.

It is often said that growing natives reduces the need for watering and fertilizing, that they are more disease and pest resistant. Natives are not a panacea for these problems. Any species, native or not, grown in environment that is less than ideal, will require maintenance. What one person might consider a pest, another person might consider wildlife. Native plants, in the appropriate environment, can offer an important source of food and shelter for organisms ranging from microbial, to insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals. All of which contribute to a healthy ecosystem. Growing plants native to your ecoregion, will also help restore seed banks that have been destroyed by development, or overrun by exotics.

At Izel we believe, first and foremost, that the top priority should be to do no harm. Our website gives you the tools and information to engage in responsible gardening. Grow native!

Who Is Izel Plants?

Izelplants.com is the brainchild of co-founders Claudio Vazquez and Amanda McClean. Two photographers with backgrounds in advertising and marketing. Both are avid gardeners, who were frustrated with the difficulties they encountered trying to find reliable native plant information and user friendly websites for their purchases.

After years talking to, and consulting with, gardeners of every skill level, landscape architects, botanists, garden curators, and nurseries, we felt the time was right to create a website dedicated to native plant enthusiasts. Hence the creation of IzelPlants.com.

About Our Name

Our name and logo are Nahuatl (pronounced nah-what). Nahuatl, used by the Aztecs, is one the oldest written languages “native” to North America. Its origin dates back to the 5th century AD and was used from central Mexico to the southwestern United States.

Izel means 'unique'. The logo is based on the pictograph Xochitl (so-chill), which means 'flower'. The two combine to create... you get the picture.

Izel Affiliated Nurseries:

All of our nurseries are committed to using the best horticultural practices. All of our plants are nursery propagated, from seed or stock that has been ethically collected, and grown without neonicotinoids treatments. If you are a grower dedicated primarily to straight species of native plants and would like to become part of the Izel team, please contact us here.

Kind Earth Growers is a wholesale producer of native plants located in Bucks county, PA, and are passionate about the use and preservation of native plants in the landscape. They take pride in their sustainable growing methods which include, rain-water harvest for irrigation, and the use of organic fertilizer. Kind Earth's native perennials are grown from seed collected in the Mid-Atlantic & Northeast regions, with special attention given to the northern piedmont ecoregion. This practice ensures a range of genetic diversity and resilience.

North Creek Nurseries Established in 1988, North Creek Nurseries has set the gold standard for sustainable production and is now considered by most to be the premier wholesale grower of native plants in the Eastern US. Based in Landenberg, PA, North Creek’s mission is to propagate the finest quality plants that enhance the relationship between people and sustainable outdoor environments. These plants are available in a variety of plug sizes, and the partnership with Izel allows us to provide a large selection of plants seldom available to customers outside of the trade.

Ironweed Nursery Ironweed Native Plant Nursery is a small, family-operated business located in south-central Kentucky. We come at this from a life-long love of botany, plant identification and plant ecology. My husband, Mike and myself have both worked for the Forest Service and understand land stewardship. We are also educators, having taught many an Intro. science course in college. Once asked, "What's your passion?" Without a doubt, it is fostering Environmental Health via plants, education and people. To help ensure population diversity, we obtain seed from multiple locations within the Interior Low Plateaus Physiographic Province of Kentucky. All plants are nursery propagated and none are dug up or harvested from the wild.

Tennessee Naturescapes Tennessee Naturescapes specializes in quality grown native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns and grasses for a wide variety of landscapes, from the home garden to large restoration or green infrastructure projects.

Lori McAlister started Tennessee Naturescapes in 2007 in response to the need for more commercially available native plants. Lori and her team are passionate about the stewardship of our natural heritage and educating the public on creating habitats for declining species such as the Monarch butterfly, honeybees and birds.

All plants are propagated from locally sourced, legally harvested seed and parent material, and are grown without using neonicotinoids.